Open Colleges

What qualifications do I need to be a youth worker?

Becoming a youth worker means training towards recognisedqualifications that enable you to safely work alongside young people. But training is more than just a box-ticking exercise. A great youth work course will help you build skills and attributes that will benefit you long into your career. Find out exactly what you’ll need to get started in youth work in this article…

Youth workers must work daily with young people, employing a range of techniques including counselling and spotting risk factors. As such, the career has safety standards which must be adhered to – including a Working With Children Check which must be completed from your state or territory.

In addition, a youth worker must build a good understanding of the skills and techniques required by the job. This means attaining a formal qualification, which should include practical experience to help equip you with the right experience to ensure you’re not out of your depth. That’s where we come in…

Choose the Certificate IV in Youth Work

The Open Colleges CHC40413 Certificate IV in Youth Work provides a fantastic base understanding of all elements of youth work. It gives you the foundations from which to build a rewarding career and includes practical experience to help you develop real-world knowledge, which will be a huge help once you begin your career.

Our youth work qualifications are available to study online.

To begin studying, you’ll need to have completed ether Year 12 or an equivalent (such as a Certificate III or higher).

This qualification equips you to deal with the challenges of the role. It is also nationally recognised by leading industry experts. The course is awarded by Integrated Care & Management Training Pty Ltd.

However, there’s more to getting qualified than just attaining industry recognition…

Skills required by youth workers

A youth worker needs to build a set of skills that will help them identify and resolverisks, providecounsel and become a trusted source of support. You may already have these skills, but they can be developed further by a good course. These include:

How to listen to and understand a young person’s problems.

The skills to interact and assist families and guardians, helping arrive at the best outcome for the young person.

How to assess a young person’s needs and link them with the services that will best meet their needs.

Responding to and behaviour during a crisis situation.

How to understand and apply cultural and societal perspectives in order to better interact with these communities.

If it does not teach you these skills, your qualification won’t be adequate for helping you secure employment. It’s important that your qualification develops practical experience. Our certificate 4 in youth work includes 120 hours of practical work experience as part of your studies, so you’ll have real-world skills ready for when you qualify.

So, what qualifications does a youth worker need? A formally-recognised award, a practical set of skills and a child safety check. Begin building all of these right now by enrolling into our CHC40413 certificate 4 youth work course today.

Enroll nowClick here to learn more about the CHC40413 Certificate IV in Youth Work, the perfect qualification to build solid foundations ahead of a promising and rewarding career.